Why does this story have legs when the Diversity Face Kabuki Dance has been going on for years? On the face, pun intended, it is because we have two identifiable faces and names that unquestionably were discriminated against based on their race. Also it is because those individuals, their family, friends and supports did not take it like sheep. They are standing up for their right to not be discriminated against. There is hope there. Hope that we may be at the beginning of the end of the retrograde and debunked racialist theories of the 1970s that hold such sway over our military. We'll see.
Today though, in the Philidelpha Inquirer, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has picked up the story and tied together the two big Diversity stories of last few weeks - the Ft. Hood attack and the USNA Color Guard racial discrimination case.
Today though, in the Philidelpha Inquirer, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has picked up the story and tied together the two big Diversity stories of last few weeks - the Ft. Hood attack and the USNA Color Guard racial discrimination case.
The connection is clear; there is a reason I call the Navy's branch of the Diversity Industry and those of their sister services, Diversity Bullies.
Like all Diversity Bullies, through softly-coated words, threats, and innuendo - they create an environment throughout the military from Annapolis to Bethesda to Texas where no one will oppose their diktat. If you do - you will be smeared. In the military, even if you are innocent - one smear and one FITREP cycle, and your career is done. Innocence be d@mned - we have a god to feed.
No theory there - I read it in the emails I receive from active duty officers. I wish I were at liberty to tell their stories, but I really don't need to. For those on active duty for any length of time - you know them.
Upset a uniformed member of the Diversity Cult that has any say in your professional reputation or career path - and you are done.
The Diversity Bullies have created a climate where we can no longer talk clearly to each other. Like the Communist Romanian Politburo - we mindlessly clap and chant what we have to in order to avoid being destroyed. Truth be d@mned - the diktat must be followed.
For the larger context of Sen. Santorum's column - you need to read it all; but here are the parts of interest to the USNA Color Guard story.
BTW, I left Senator Santorum's email there for a reason. If you have an Annapolis Diversity horror story to tell - send it to him.Upset a uniformed member of the Diversity Cult that has any say in your professional reputation or career path - and you are done.
The Diversity Bullies have created a climate where we can no longer talk clearly to each other. Like the Communist Romanian Politburo - we mindlessly clap and chant what we have to in order to avoid being destroyed. Truth be d@mned - the diktat must be followed.
For the larger context of Sen. Santorum's column - you need to read it all; but here are the parts of interest to the USNA Color Guard story.
Six U.S. Naval Academy students were to form the color guard at Game 2 of the World Series, played Oct. 29 at Yankee Stadium. Everything was going fine until the academy brass discovered something terribly amiss, and Capt. Matthew Klunder jumped into action. Klunder, the commandant of midshipmen, ordered that two members of the color guard be replaced.
Were the midshipmen cut because of incompetence? Was there some disciplinary problem? No. They were benched because they are - white men. The Naval Academy's top officials had decided the color guard needed a white woman and a Pakistani American man for the sake of "diversity."
The color guard had practiced as a group of six and always intended to march as six. The two midshipmen who were replaced were invited to go to the game anyway and serve as backup.
But while en route to the game, the Pakistani American midshipman noticed that he had forgotten his cover (hat) and shoes. The more senior of the two replaced midshipmen had his full uniform and was able to fill in.
After word got out about the color guard changes, the Naval Academy, in an effort to mitigate the controversy, issued a news release stating that it had decided to expand the color guard to eight members.
The academy's official Web site calls diversity its "highest personnel priority." I think it's possible to favor diversity and still wonder if it should be the Naval Academy's "highest personnel priority." Is the academy, dare I say, going overboard?
I fear it is. Unfortunately, though, it's also perfectly in line with official Navy policy. After all, the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, proclaimed when he was head of the Navy that "diversity" is a "strategic imperative."
All the way down to color guards at baseball games.
...
this is the kind of politically correct incantation that forces otherwise reasonable people to say silly things, and to behave in ways that are worse than silly - with disastrous consequences.
It's not a critical national-security matter when a few white male midshipmen almost get bounced from a color guard. After the Fort Hood killings, however, we should look at the military's blind commitment to "diversity" and see if it's blinding us to the obvious - and the dangerous.
Rick Santorum can be reached at rsantorum@phillynews.com.
It is one thing to send them to me - but if you want it seen by a much higher player - he's standing by.
Who knows - maybe somewhere in out senior leadership we have a man or woman as brave as Pîrvulescu. Maybe.
